“You saw it yourself— that Blood Race lord is too strong. We’re no match for him!”
“If I don’t hand over Junior Swan, we’ll all die here!”
“There are so many innocent students in the academy… I can’t just watch everyone walk to their deaths!”
“Junior Swan… he’ll understand me. He’s so kind… He definitely wouldn’t want to drag the entire academy down because of himself alone…”
As he spoke, his eyes seemed to redden, putting on a “tragic” act of sacrificing the individual for the greater good, willing to bear the blame for it.
Kleia trembled with rage and wanted to scold him, but Yisha gently tugged at her sleeve.
Yisha looked at Luke—his outwardly cowardly and humble demeanor, yet the subtle wink he gave her, and the fingers that secretly pressed harder when helping her up. A flash of understanding struck her.
Suppressing the shock in her heart, she put on a pained and helpless expression and sighed.
“Principal… don’t blame Luke.”
“He… he did it for us, for the thousands of students in this academy.”
“Let him be the villain. If anyone’s to blame, it’s us for being too weak to protect our own students…”
Kleia froze at these words. She caught the extremely faint hint in Yisha’s eyes, then looked at Luke’s profile—humble yet inexplicably determined.
She seemed to grasp something. All her fury and reprimands stuck in her throat, eventually turning into a heavy sigh.
She turned her face away, saying nothing more, letting Luke support her, as if acquiescing to this humiliating compromise.
No. 1 watched it all unfold, his heart undisturbed.
He had seen too much of human weakness, betrayal, and choices made in desperate situations.
This red-haired brat’s “knowing when to yield” was contemptible, but it also saved him a lot of trouble.
He said no more, merely signaling with his eyes for Luke to lead the way.
The group— a disheveled Luke, Kleia and Yisha being helped along in their state of “helpless resistance,” plus two other instructors, and No. 1 following behind like a silent reaper— walked toward the student dormitory area.
The atmosphere was heavy and eerie.
Inside the dormitory building, in Swain’s room.
Through the shared perception with Iguneel, Swain knew that Luke had brought the Blood Race over.
“Hmph! I told you long ago, that red-haired punk can’t be trusted!”
Iguneel snarled in her mind, his voice full of contempt and irritation.
“All that talk of righteousness, but when the moment came, he feared death and betrayed his companion!”
“If I’d known, I’d have bitten his head off back then, saved us from inviting a wolf into the house!”
Swain bit her lower lip, a struggle flashing in her eyes, then turned into firm resolve.
“No… I can’t blame Senior Luke.”
“That Blood Race is too strong. Even Principal Kleia and the teachers… If handing me over can keep everyone safe, then I…”
She moved toward the door.
“Stop! Swain!”
Iguneel shouted urgently.
“Don’t be stupid! Do you really think that handing yourself over will make that monster keep his promise and spare the others?”
“What if you go out and that Blood Race doesn’t keep his word?”
He paused, his tone softening slightly but still stern.
“Listen, this room is surrounded by a concealment and defense barrier I set up using my Dragon Soul power combined with your mana.”
“As long as you don’t go out on your own and don’t make too much noise, that Blood Race can’t break through this barrier.”
Even as he said this, Iguneel himself wasn’t fully confident.
The aura of that Blood Race outside was ridiculously strong, especially the nature of his blood energy—it seemed mixed with something that made Iguneel feel both disgust and familiarity…
How long his barrier could hold was really uncertain.
Outside the dormitory building, Luke had already brought the group to the entrance.
He took a deep breath, as if making up his mind.
“Swain is inside.”
“I’ll bring her out now.”
As he shouted, he helped Kleia and the others quickly retreat through the dormitory entrance.
No. 1 stood with his hands behind his back outside the door, not responding to Luke’s words, his pupils calmly staring at this seemingly ordinary student dormitory building.
Kleia was helped into the building by Luke, her face still full of grief and confusion as she whispered angrily,
“Luke! What exactly are you trying to do?”
Luke explained, “The dormitory area has a defensive magic array.”
Kleia was taken aback. Of course she knew that.
“Even if there’s a public defensive magic array set up by the academy in the dormitory area, at most it can only withstand a short attack from a Lord-level (A-rank) magical beast!”
“That Blood Pillar outside is definitely above Lord-level!”
“That array won’t hold him for long! All you’re doing is forcing Swain out to die and trapping us here too.”
Luke didn’t explain.
Because besides the academy’s built-in defensive magic array, the entire dormitory building also had the magic arrays set up by Yize.
Although he didn’t know whether Yize’s arrays could stop No. 1, he had no other choice now.
He could only trust, one last time, that his almighty senior would come through.
“So it’s magic arrays?”
“You think that can stop me?”
“I thought you knew your place, but instead you put up such foolish resistance.”
No. 1 waved lightly, and blood energy shattered the outermost magic array that blocked his path.
Kleia was filled with despair. “I told you, that array can’t stop this guy.”
No. 1 said coldly, “Red-haired brat, toying with me has consequences.”
“Just wait—I’ll skin you alive.”
With that, No. 1 stepped toward the dormitory area.
Another powerful energy barrier repelled him and sent him flying.
Kleia was shocked. “When did I set up a double magic array on the dormitory area?”
Before she could finish being astonished,
the barrier formed by the new defensive magic array was shattered by No. 1 again.
But after he broke it, another new magic array barrier lit up.
And each time a new defensive magic array barrier appeared, its energy was more concentrated than the previous one.
When No. 1, somewhat impatient, shattered the barrier formed by the tenth defensive magic array,
that meant he had successfully breached the outer protection Yize had set up in his early days, when he first put some Talent Points into [Magic Array] after getting the System and began studying magic arrays.
Then came the second layer of protection, which Yize had set up a few years later when his [Magic Array] had reached a certain level.
Instantly, countless shining energy barriers layered one after another, surrounding the dormitory building.
The number was so exaggerated that for a moment, no one could count how many there were.
At this stage, Yize could already perform [multi-composite] operations on magic arrays.
In other words, the qualitative change achieved through quantity—Yize’s specialty.
Swain was now utterly incredulous. “Iguneel, did you set up all these magic arrays too?”
Iguneel was equally baffled. “Not me. I only set up a protective magic array barrier around your room.”
“And even I couldn’t lay down this many arrays in such a short time!”
At that moment, Kleia finally realized something was wrong.
She looked at Luke, her eyes full of shock.
“Luke, where did all these magic arrays come from?”
Luke scratched his head, unsure how to explain.
He knew Senior Yize had set up many defensive arrays in the dormitory area, but he hadn’t expected this many.
What Luke didn’t know was that compared to magic potions and magic tools, Yize had actually studied magic arrays the most.
Because he was afraid of death, he basically updated and added to the defensive array system in the dormitory every day.
It could be said that there was no safer place in the entire Empire than the dormitories of Starlight Academy.
And the safest spot of all was Yize’s own room.
Throughout the dormitory area, Yize had set up four stages of defensive magic arrays.
The early two-stage defensive barriers from the beginner [Magic Array] period were used on the perimeter of the dormitory—the whole building.
The later two-stage defensive barriers, after he had deepened his knowledge of [Magic Array], were used inside his own room.
“Principal Kleia, I can’t explain this right now.”
“But don’t worry about it. Anyway, our dormitory building is absolutely safe.”
“If you’re still not reassured, I suggest we go sit in Senior Yize’s room…”
“Kid,” No.1’s voice was not loud, but it carried a biting chill, clearly piercing through the barrier and reaching everyone’s ears. “You’re very good. I’ll kill you first in a bit.”